Some hydrocarbon feeds can be converted into higher value hydrocarbon fractions such as diesel fuel, jet fuel, naphtha, gasoline, and other lower boiling fractions in refining processes such as hydrocracking and fluid catalytic cracking (FCC). However, hydrocarbon feed streams having higher amounts of contaminants, such as sulfur and nitrogen, are more difficult to convert to higher value fractions. The degree of conversion, product yields, catalyst deactivation, and/or ability to meet product quality specifications may be adversely affected by the sulfur or nitrogen content of the feed stream.
Therefore, various processes have been developed to remove contaminants from hydrocarbon feeds. It is known to reduce the sulfur content of hydrocarbon streams by catalytic hydrogenation reactions such as in a hydrotreating process unit. While the hydrotreating process increases conversion, the hydrotreating process units are very expensive and require substantial amounts of hydrogen.
There remains a need in the art for processes for removing contaminants from hydrocarbon feeds.